Yes, You Can Think Your Way To A Better, Longer Life!

It turns out there is a very practical way in which being positive helps you live longer and better. Two ways, and one of them is social, or being reflective or mindful of the people in your network. Like taking a pill, it needs doing once a day.

If you have ever suffered from very bad indigestion, that shortness of breath that makes it feel like your heart is giving up, that's the result of pressure on your vagus nerve. If you ever believed your mind could make you healthier then that could also be your vagus nerve. Turn to this week’s Economist for a diagram.

The vagus nerve according to Drs Barbara Frederickson and Bethany Kok, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is that part of the body responsible for our power to think ourselves

into a virtuous circle of good health and well being.

The nerve helps speed up the heart when it is necessary to be on guard and to calm the system down when we feel safe.

The Frederickson/Kok research suggests that people with this stronger tone can generate more positive feelings, and that positive feelings reinforce vagal tone. It' a virtuous spiral. Those of us that are weak in this area cannot naturally overcome that weakness .We can’t wish ourselves out of the trap we know we’re in, unless, we become more reflective.

For those who have strong tone, there’s a likelihood that meditation can push the body and mind up its more virtuous pathway. But in a sense, we've already suspected that for a long time. What is more interesting is what happens to the weaklings among us.

For those who don’t have it, a better vagal effect can be stimulated by reflecting on their social connections at the end of each day.

I wonder then whether the rise of social networking and social business offer us all an opportunity to improve our life chances. People with better vagal tone are thought more likely to reap the benefits of positive thinking in their general health.

But what it takes is a more reflective attitude towards those networks rather than the rabid pursuit of connectivity for its own sake.

I like this idea – the re-entry of social life as an aid to our general wellbeing and prosperity.